A Ghostly Aria
by Aiko Isari
Summary: Because they aren't just going to leave their family hanging.
1. 1

_**A/N:**_ Hi! I'm popping into this fandom again to play around some more, this time with an idea that got stuck in my head. It's a bit more melancholy than it came off in chats though. Thanks for dropping by!

**Challenges:** Diversity Writing Challenge: C8. Write a drabble novel with drabbles between 50-500 words

**Warnings:** Canonical character death.

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1.

Serena is not alone at the beginning.

She is met by two adults and a child, a sleepy looking little girl who must be their daughter, must be. She mumbles for her big sister over and over and the parents look a little more heartbroken the more she says it.

She remembers fire and expects her clothes to be utter ruins. They are as clean as when she put them on this morning, and her hair as glossy as when Maria helped her brush it. Maria isn't there.

For some reason, that makes her very happy, and also very concerned.

Maria tends to go a little silly when she's not around.


	2. 2

2.

Eventually, the family disappears. It's not because they didn't like her, Serena thinks. It's because they have a place to be that isn't with her and that staying here doesn't really help with getting there.

The little girl says to watch for her big sister. Serena promises to, even though it doesn't make sense to her that her big sister would come here in the first place. Does she have a Relic? She wants to ask but they are already gone by the time she thinks of the question. So she stares out at the empty space for a while, and she begins to see the clouds drift away from each other to see what lies below. The world below her turns on, and that relieves her. It is so great and vast.

Her world was so tiny before.

No wonder it was easy to believe that they, she and Maria, could save it.

Even from here, as her sister sings to herself in a studio, she knows Maria still thinks she can.


	3. 3

_**A/N: **_Hey guys! Here I am again. Thanks for dropping by!

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3.

It's a bit boring, being dead. Serena tries wishing up a deck of cards, but it goes nowhere. The place remains empty and fluffy peach clouds and it's rather lonely once in a while. She can't hurt herself, doesn't really want to, come to think of it. Watching Maria is painful enough.

So she sits for a while, and sometimes watches her mother, sometimes looks elsewhere. They are so young, she realizes as she watches Maria train. So young and so scared and she wishes there was something she could do.

She knows the living can do something, but what of the dead?

"Oh, I thought it'd be empty in here."

The voice that greets her is older, but brighter and for a moment, Serena thinks she knows who she is.


	4. 4

4.

"Hello!"

She's a woman, a woman of all light colors. Adulthood traces youthful curves, and the smile on her lips remains as loose as if they had met on the train station.

Serena finds herself returning the smile. "Hi."

"What are you doing here?"

It's a guileless question, but it's one she can't answer. Serena shrugs.

The woman shrugs back and sits beside her without asking. Even though there's plenty of space, Serena doesn't really mind. She looks down at the clouds again, watches them swirl and part and glimpses her sister putting up her hair, twirling her lance.

"Ah, she's got Gungnir too, huh?"

The other's voice is without malice, only cheer and bemusement and Serena wonders how it is the other girl can even see this and does so.

This time, the woman has no answer, except for, "I just can."


	5. 5

5.

For a little while, they're quiet. Then the other grins. "Ah, I know why now." She sounds amused. "I had Gungnir too, so I probably can see that rather than her, cause I can see someone else too."

Serena thinks about this and nods. "That... actually..." She rubbed her eyes. "I dunno, I'm not all that good at science and technology and things like that..."

"Same here!" Was this person actually proud of that? "That was Tsubasa's thing... kind of. She understood it better than me. As long as I can let people hear me sing, I don't really care about the details, ya know?"

Serena finds herself giggling. She could understand that. "That's how I feel too."

"Now, if only the others could catch on."

Serena tries to control herself. "They're just not as great as us, are they?"

"Not a chance." A pause. "My name is Kanade."

"Serena."

"We're really dead." Kanade pauses. "The least they could do was give us a deck of cards."

"I... I thought the exact same thing."


	6. 6

6.

From that point on, they're sharing jokes and laughing like little girls. There's a darkness in both of their eyes and they don't really have to talk about it because it comes from the same sensation of dying and they both know how much that sucks.

So that's that.

Instead if they don't play with the mysterious cards, they follow their loved ones around. Kanade whispers in a blue-haired girl's ear and it makes Serena jealous because the girl hears Kanade. She hears the words and turns around and sometimes smiles and mostly cries but there is the connection.

By contrast, Maria doesn't hear, but she always cries.

"It's because she's the big sister," Kanade tells her, though the look on her face is full of worry. "She doesn't want to admit that she needs you."

Serena rubs her wet eyes. "Know the experience?"

Kanade smiles and pets her hair. It's not condescending but it hurts anyway. "Yeah. And it sucks. Cause I didn't listen either."

"You big siblings and your pride."

It's not a joke, but they both laugh anyway.


	7. 7

_**A/N:**_ Hello guest, ask and you shall receive. Last chapter will be out on Friday!

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7.

For a while, they just watch. Kanade discovers they can make finger paint and they get into a nice pillow fight in the sky. Most of Serena's fear is replaced with frustration by now. She wants her sister to wake up, to see. She is dead, yes. She is dead, but she didn't die for this. She didn't die for her sister to drown herself in misery and pretend in front of two girls who actually need her to be strong.

Kanade looks sympathetic. "I always thought Tsubasa was a stick in the mud."

Serena groans. "She wasn't this bad before!" She rests her hands in her lap, gripping her knees in irritation for lack of something to hit. "It's Mom... it's that doctor... they're the reason."

Kanade reaches over and pulls her into a small hug.

Serena lets the tears fall, for the first time since the day she died.


	8. 8

_**A/N:**_ And it's done! I was going to add what Hibiki does, but... nah, that's for a more humorous fic. Thanks for the support everyone!

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8.

Something changes. Kanade is always smiling and singing. The blue-haired girl isn't always in view these days. Sometimes it's another, one with hair clips who trips over her own feet and runs with so much passion and her head held high.

More and more, Serena sees her singing. It's nice and bright with the strength of her fists.

Kanade is grinning like an idiot.

"She's still alive," Kanade says, and there's so much happiness in her voice. It is raw and Serena understands it.

She survived. She's still living.

Maybe they're seeing her because she is going to make a difference. She's going to remind their precious family of something, of the most important thing.

To live. Your singing means nothing if you don't _live._


End file.
